


What Remains

by Theseblankpages



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Apocalypse, Blood, Death, F/F, F/M, Gore, Hurt/Comfort, I'll tag more serious stuff later probably, Implied Smut, M/M, Smut, Undead, Walkers, Wayhaught - Freeform, Wynonna is amazing, Zombies, also salty at everyone in this, and definitely, and sadness, apocalypse au, but its short lived I promise, idk - Freeform, lots of salt, shortly there is Waverly/Champ, there will probably be, theres gonna be a lot I promise, theres gonna be a lot of cursing because it's Wynonna Earp come on, wyndolls is endgame
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-12 18:02:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11742285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theseblankpages/pseuds/Theseblankpages
Summary: Too long.It had been too long since Nicole Haught had been around living people- she didn’t even know if there was anyone else left any more besides herself.





	1. Chapter 1

The dull thud of footsteps woke Nicole from her sleep. _Another one,_ she thought, and dragged herself out of the small tent she had set up. The morning air was crisp, and the light came through the trees to create a beautiful scene. Nicole looked around, and sure enough there was a zombie nearing the edge of her current place of refuge. Pulling out her knife and inching closer slowly, she took a deep breath. As soon as she got close enough she plunged the knife into the skull of the creature, all the way down to the hilt. As she did, she felt the all-too-familiar splatter of blood on her hand and arm. Withdrawing the blade, she let the body fall to the ground with a heavy thump. 

Taking a moment, she sat down in front of her tent and looked around. This part of the woods really was beautiful, even if it was infested with the dead. She'd seen more in this area then she had seen in any other area of the woods she had been in, actually, but much more spread out. And that was reasonable, because she was in a pretty large stretch of the woods. Which is why Nicole was surprised when she heard a voice yell,

"Hey, that was my kill!"

Nicole turned around quickly, and found the source of the noise. Walking towards her were two women. One was clad in a leather jacket and wielding a rather large revolver with a very long barrel, which had to cripple the aim. The other woman was in a pair of bright blue high-waisted pants and a crop top that read "shorty's". 

"Are you stupid?" Nicole hissed, standing up, "don't make so much noise, you'll attract more of them!"

"Good," shouted the one in leather, "more to kill."

"She doesn't mean that," said the one in the crop top. As the two drew nearer, Nicole noticed that the second woman had a shotgun strapped to her back. When the two of them reached Nicole, the leather-clad one waved her revolver in the general direction of the body on the ground. 

"You took my kill," she stated again and Nicole nodded in a way that she hoped read that she didn't really care. She realized suddenly that even if the revolver the first woman was carrying couldn't aim well with how long the barrel was, Nicole couldn't very well defend herself against that shotgun with a knife. The second woman spoke again:

"We only wanted the backpack off of him," she stated, and Nicole looked at the dead thing lying in the dirt. There was, in fact, a backpack on him that Nicole hadn't noticed. 

"Oh," was all she said, and she looked back at the two women. She stopped for a second, taking in both of their features. 

The first woman, the loud one, the one who carried the revolver, had darker hair. She was somewhat attractive, and had dimples that appeared whenever her expression changed. 

The second woman, the shorter one, the one with a shotgun, had light brown hair that was quite thick and long. Her face was kind, she had a rather sharp, strong jawline, and her eyes were a beautiful hazel color. She was gorgeous, and Nicole felt a lump form in her throat the longer she looked at her. Instinct kicked in, and she smiled her flirtiest smile. 

"If you're gonna take that, you should at least let me introduce myself," she spoke to the shorter woman. "Nicole Haught." She extended her hand for the other woman to shake it. She did, and Nicole felt a slight relief. 

"I'm Waverly. Earp- Waverly Earp. And this is my sister Wynonna." She gestured to the other woman, who shrugged and glared at Nicole. 

"Pleasure," she said, and bent to pull the backpack off of the zombie. "We're just here for the backpack, not to make friends. . ." Her voice trailed off as she stared at Nicole's tent. "Officer," she finished and stood, slinging the backpack over her shoulder. 

"How did you-" Nicole started, but then remembered that she had her uniform sitting on the stump by her tent. 

"Deputy," she said. She figured she would at least correct the woman. "I'm a sheriff's deputy."

"Well. Whoopdie doo, deputy dimples, we've got places to be, so bye," wynonna took a few steps forward past Nicole, and then Waverly spoke, stopping her. 

"Wynonna," she said, and then moved to stand next to her sister. "We need more people right, so, why not her?" Nicole could hear them even though it was obvious they thought she couldn't. 

"She's a cop, first of all," Wynonna started, but Waverly interjected, 

"Your boyfriend is an FBI agent,"

"Was," Wynonna corrected, "and second of all, she doesn't seem to like me much. You, on the other hand. . ." 

"Oh, hush, she was being friendly," Waverly replied. She spun around to face Nicole, and before Wynonna could object, said, "we have a group- a camp of sorts. You seem to be by yourself, so why don't you come with us?" Nicole almost jumped for joy. A group- more people, sounded worlds better than being by herself. But she was also a bit wary. While Waverly was friendly, Wynonna seemed standoffish and she sort of made Nicole's nerves go up. 

Nicole thought for a second. But curiosity and want to get to know Waverly a bit better eventually won out. She nodded, and said, "okay."

"Great," said Waverly, and smiled. Nicole smiled back, and put her knife and her belts "we'll get your shit, hot stuff, we've got a long ways to go," Wynonna stated, with a pointed glare at her sister. 

Soon, they were all walking quietly together towards Wynonna and Waverly's camp. Nicolle tried to make conversation with both of them, but Wynonna's answers were rather short and Nicole still got the vibe that she didn't like her. Eventually, she gave up and just talked to Waverly, but she was in no way complaining. 

"Don't mind Wynonna, she's like that with everyone," Waverly said after Nicole tried (and failed) again to talk to Wynonna. "she'll warm up to you." 

Nicole had noticed that Waverly was very friendly and warm. Honestly, Nicole had been scared of her at first with that shotgun strapped to her back. She was very happy and bubbly, which Nicole had learned in the last few months was hard to be now. 

"So, what did you two do? I mean before all of this happened?" Nicole asked. She didn't know how far it was until they reached their destination, but she figured she would at least try to be somewhat entertaining. 

"Well, I was a barkeep- bartender, whatever you want to call it, I was that." Waverly answered. "And Wynonna. . . was Wynonna." Nicole furrowed her eyebrows, but didn't bother to ask what that meant. She figured that she was too new to their lives just yet. There was a silence before either of them spoke again, and then Waverly broke it:  
"So your name- is 'hot'?"

Nicole chuckled. 

"Yeah, it's pronounced like 'hot' but spelled H-A-U-G-H-T." She said. 

"Oh, okay. That makes more sense. See, I thought it was a little strange, in my head." Waverly replied. Nicole smiled at her. It was nice to have company again, especially company as nice as Waverly Earp. 

"What else?" Nicole inquired, "what's- what's this group of yours like?"

"It's a good group- we all get along and protect eachother and that's what matters," Waverly answered, "Well, get along for the most part." She added. 

 

"What do you mean, 'for the most part'?" Nicole asked. She was curious now. 

"Well, we do, really, get along well. It's just that there are issues sometimes. You know, everyone's nerves are high and everything is. . ." Waverly paused and swallowed. "hard. Chaotic, I guess. It's shitty." They both laughed. 

"Yeah, it's definitely shitty," Nicole agreed. 

"So," Waverly spoke again after a few moments of silence. "Were you with anyone? Before now I mean? Like, were you with a group or just you on your own?" Nicole swallowed. She didn't like talking about this. 

"For a while I was with my boss. Old boss now, I guess. But we got separated." She said. "Our camp thing got overrun and he went to get supplies. Never came. Back out."

"Oh," Waverly said, "I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure he was a great guy." 

"He was," Nicole stated. There was another pause. 

"The place we've got set up is nice, you'll like it I'm sure," Waverly finally said. Nicole was glad she broke that particular silence. 

"Any place is better than an old tent in the middle of the woods," Nicole joked. She trusted that these two's encampment was nice. Waverly seemed like the type of person to tell the truth. They walked for a few more miles, and then came across it. When she saw it, Nicole's mouth fell open.  
Holy shit, she thought.  
Wynonna leaned against the large gate. 

"Welcome to Purgatory," she stated.


	2. Chapter 2

Purgatory was much larger than Nicole had originally thought. Waverly and Wynonna had called it 'camp," but it was more of an entire town. As soon as the wall came into view, Nicole had known that it was big. But once they went inside, she was surprised by how many people she saw. Not only were there a lot of people, but as they walked through, Nicole saw an area where there were animals like goats and chickens in pens. There was a place where there was farm land. Tomatoes and squashes and various other foods were growing there, and several people were out walking back and forth taking water to the plants. There were a few people by the gate who were armed, acting as guards. 

"I'll explain how everything works after you're here for a minute- give you a second to adjust." Waverly said, noticing Nicole's wide-eyed admiration. "We try our hardest to be as self-sufficient as possible." 

"This is . . . Wow." Nicole didn't know how to describe it. She hadn't seen civilization in so long, and just setting her eyes on Purgatory was a relief. There were people– living people. It had been too long that she'd been separated from anyone else. 

"It's a safe place. A protected place from what's out there," Wynonna said, waving to someone as they walked by. "and we only let people we completely trust live here." Nicole hoped silently that she was one of those people. 

They slowed as they neared a place that read, 'Shorty's Saloon' above the door, just like on Waverly's shirt. Wynonna pulled open the doors and they entered one at a time. It took a second for Nicole's eyes to adjust to the difference between the sunlight and the dimly lit bar. Wynonna kept walking across the room and up a set of stairs on the other side, but Waverly stopped, and so did Nicole. It was quiet for a moment, long enough that it started to get awkward.

"So," She started, "how _do_ things work here?" She genuinely wanted to know- she wanted to be part of this, to be part of the people here and to try to help them.   
"How would I earn your trust, Waverly Earp?" The smile that Waverly smiled nearly made Nicole melt. 

"Well, like I said, we try to be as self-sufficient as possible. So we have a little agricultural area that you saw," Waverly gestured towards the door, then walked over and sat down on a stool at the bar. Nicole sat next to her. "Some things we can't make ourselves so we'll go periodically in groups to get stuff- you know, like medical supplies and ammunition.  
"So, we have out people who take care of the agriculture area, which Champ Hardy mostly heads up. And we have people who handle the food levels and such- Gus leads all of that. The 'guards' as some people have taken to calling them, who don't really have a set person in charge.   
"Xavier Dolls kind of does that, but I don't think he likes having the title. We have our organized groups that go on runs, of course. Henry usually makes sure all of that is in order. Jeremy Chetri is the doctor of sorts, or the guy who patches everyone up when there's an injury. And there's all of the other medics, but Jeremy is their head. And then we have everyone else. Everybody contributes, of course. We had to have help with building the walls around the place and starting everything up. We wouldn't be where we are without all of these people. And we're always looking for more. We realized a while back that in order to keep everything the way we wanted, we needed more people. And so we got more. And then we brought in more and more- we kind of created a safe haven of sorts accidentally. The more people we bring, the more things we need, which then requires more man power to keep everything going. It's kind of a cycle."

"What about you and Wynonna?" Nicole asked. "Where do you two fall into place?" 

"Well, Wynonna is the leader, whether she likes it or not. She doesn't like to admit it, but everyone recognizes her as the highest authority." Nicole suddenly wished that Wynonna liked her a little bit more. "And I'm kind of like the coordinator, I guess. That's what Jeremy said. Purgatory as a whole came together because of Wynonna, but I try to make sure everything is organized."

Of course she was. Gorgeous, and smart. Nicole was enthralled by this girl, and desperately wanted to know her better. She hoped that she wasn't being weird, but Waverly really was very pretty. 

"So we need to get you settled somewhere and then go from there- set you up with a job to do." Waverly pushed aside a stack of papers on the counter that Nicole hadn't noticed before. "Where do you think you'll do well? I mean- job wise. Sorry, but our housing situation is weird so we'll get to that in a second." 

Nicole didn't know if she wanted to know what that last bit even meant. 

"I dunno," she answered Waverly's question. "I uh- I mean, I'll work wherever you want me. I'm just thankful you and Wynonna brought me here."

"Don't worry about it, we'll get you put somewhere in a minute. There's plenty of things to do here, I promise. Okay, so- as for a place to stay . . . We're working on expanding, right, since we're wanting more people- but in order to do that, we need more housing. Which there is more of, but it's all on the outside of the south wall. So, we're still working on that. But we do have a house that's empty- it's a big house, but it's a place to stay, and it's pretty nice."

"Um . . . Yeah, that's okay, that's fine." Nicole said. She was honestly okay with whatever; as long as she was safe from the dead. 

"It's big, especially for one person, but it's what we've got. Unless you wanna room with Bill." Waverly's expression suddenly grew dark. "Which you don't want to do. Trust me." Nicole didn't know who Bill was, but from Waverly's expression, she was kind of scared and didn't want to know. She'd rather live in the big empty house. 

"That's good- I trust you- no Bill." She said. Waverly grinned. 

"Then it's done! Come on, I'll show you the place."

\------------

Waverly wasn't kidding. The house was huge. As they neared the place on the other side of Purgatory, Nicole was surprised at how big Purgatory really was. The house was big, but it was furnished. It almost made Nicole sick thinking about the people who used to live here. She still didn't like thinking about all of the people who died when the outbreak happened- it was a horrible thought. The sheer number of them was astounding. The population of the entire world had been slashed, and she still couldn't get her head around it. There was finally a place with life- a peaceful place. She wasn't used to it, but she supposed she would have to be. 

 

"Okay," Waverly said after showing Nicole around. "I'm gonna go, you can take a bit to get settled, and I'll be in Shorty's if you need me." 

Nicole thanked the shorter girl and saw her to the door. After Waverly was gone and the door latched behind her, Nicole let out a sigh. She hadn't even noticed that she was holding her breath, actually. Her breath probably smelled pretty bad. She shouldn't be thinking about this, but she remembered how nice Waverly had smelled- their showers probably worked. Oh, god, showers. That sounded amazing. 

Turning around to face the front room of the house- her house, now- Nicole took in the emptiness. Sure, there was furniture and it really was a nice house, but something about it _felt_ empty. Slowly, she headed up the stairs and into the bedroom she decided on randomly. (There were four. _Four._ ) 

As she was unpacking her things, she realized how much she had missed being around people. Real, living people. Her meager belongings barely took up any space in the room, and it just reinforced the feeling of emptiness. She didn't know if she could handle being in this big of a place all by herself; but then again she didn't have much of a choice. The concept of a shower sounded beautiful, so she went and tested it. Amazingly, the water came on as soon as she turned the knob and Nicole almost died of happiness. An actual shower. Finally. After she was finished, she decided she should probably go and see what to do next. Sitting alone any longer was about the last thing she wanted to do. 

______________________________

Making her way back through town was different. She was alone this time, and she took a little bit more attention to the people around her. There was a woman with mousy brown short hair standing outside of a house with a white-haired man next to her. They were watching everything around them happen, and seemed like they were content. There was a tall man with a large mustache and a brimmed hat walking in the opposite direction as Nicole, and he smiled at her as they passed by each other. There was so much life here. And Nicole wasn't used to it. She made her way to Shorty's, where Waverly was sitting and talking to a short man with dark hair and a happy smile. 

"Nicole!" Waverly said as Nicole walked in. The tone of her voice made Nicole smile. 

"Waverly," she greeted, walking nearer and leaning against the table where the other two sat. She tried to be nonchalant about it, but she felt like she probably looked silly. Oh, well. 

"This is Nicole, Jeremy. The girl Wynonna and I brought in today," Waverly said, and the man smiled. He had a friendly, boyish feeling, and his face was cheerful. 

"Hi, I'm Jeremy," he said, "Waverly was actually just telling me about you- you already seem to be like a good fit. We need some more people with sense."   
He seemed to have a certain person in mind who _didn't_ have any sense, but Nicole decided that she shouldn't ask. She just chuckled, hoping that was an okay thing to do, and it seemed to be appropriate because he laughed too. Nicole was just about to start a conversation, but then Jeremy said, 

"Well, I should go- you guys are probably about to be busy anyway."

He left after telling Waverly and Nicole both goodbye. Nicole was confused by the hurry he seemed to be in, but let it go when Waverly started talking. 

"So, I was thinking that you would do well in the 'guards' because you were a cop- already have firearms training and you were out there on your own, so you probably know your way around those things."

"That's perfect, yeah. Wherever you want me, really." Nicole said, and she meant it. She didn't really care where she was, as long as she was busy. 

"Unless there's somewhere else you would want to be, I think that's a good bet," Waverly said. Nicole agreed. She just hoped that she would do well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is chapter 2! Sorry it took so long, I've been busy because my college classes started this past week and I've been trying to keep up and memorize my new schedule. Like before, there wasn't nearly as much editing involved with this chapter as I would want, but I'm trying my hardest to get enough sleep every night so that I don't fall asleep during lectures. So here you guys go- I'm gonna try and write a oneshot next weekend, so keep an eye on my oneshot collection! Thanks so much for reading! Feel free to comment any thoughts you have :)


	3. Chapter 3

Being a guard wasn’t nearly as difficult as Nicole had expected– but then again, there weren’t any emergencies right now. The only thing she had to as of right now, since she already knew how to fire a weapon properly, was walk the length of the fence back and forth to keep an eye out for any breaches. She was told that once in a while she would likely be assigned to go out and get rid of the dead that were caught in the traps set out for them, to keep as many as possible away from the town. She was also told that the traps were Waverly’s idea, because the dead kept getting too close for comfort. 

Walking back and forth got rather tedious after a certain amount of time, so Nicole started looking and noticing more. For example, she noticed the details of how smart the design of Purgatory was: the “fence” was more of a wall– around 15 feet tall with frames and supports made of large steel posts with sheet metal and chain-link fencing all around. There were points along the wall where there were ladders so that someone could climb up to the top and check on things- namely the number of dead on the other side.

Dolls, who was the technical head of the guards, told Nicole that one of the only ways to keep the walls up was to check on all of the traps about once every two days or so. This kept too many of them from getting past the traps– because there were “always a few that slipped through.” While they were confident on the strength of the walls, they weren’t too keen to test that strength. 

The Routine that the people followed seemed to be planned out in detail as well: Nicole noticed that there were several people working in the different groups around town. The agricultural group that Waverly had previously mentioned to Nicole was rather large, seeing as they both raised livestock and tended to the small farming areas. The techniques they all followed were very systematic, and all of them seemed to work well.

The tiny details weren’t what Nicole really focused on, but the people. There were so many people– living, breathing people around her, and she wasn’t quite used to it yet. Some of them were friendly, most of them still very wary of her, but all of them so very alive. Nicole knew that she had to earn the trust of these people, and she was okay with that. They had to earn her trust, too. She had thought about this last night before she went to sleep- what if these people just wanted to kill her? What were their exact intentions? What if they weren’t as trustworthy as they seemed? There were definitely times when people had lied to her about their intentions. The things that she had grown used to: being alone and cold and afraid that someone or something might come and kill her in her sleep, were things she hadn’t really had to worry about in almost twenty four hours. That feeling was new, and it was strange. 

She met and talked to a few people, and they all seemed to be used to new people coming in frequently. From what she was told, the newcomers usually bounced around the positions that were laid out for a while before settling on one. She hoped that she wasn’t one of those. Because she didn’t think she would be very good with agriculture. One woman she talked to was Hayley, and she was in the agricultural group. Their conversation wasn’t very long, but Nicole felt as though she got the most information from her. Hayley’s advice combined with how Waverly had explained things made Nicole think that she had a good idea of how things worked. The only issue she had with understanding was how the place was started. Sure, she knew that it was started by Waverly and Wynonna, but she didn’t know the details. They met Henry and Dolls and they all helped to bring even _more_ people, and eventually there was a big wall around the entire town, and then some. They definitely had enough people to do it, especially now, and they had the time. I’m had been around four years since the infections started, and now there were only a handful of people left alive- some of them fighting and killing each other, which Nicole would probably never understand. She wanted to know as much as possible about this place, and she supposed that the only way to do that was to talk to Wynonna and Waverly. 

__________________

Shorty’s was mostly empty when Nicole entered, which made sense with how late it was getting. There wasn’t a set curfew, but Dolls said that usually everyone went inside by around ten o’clock. The only people in Shorty’s were Waverly and Champ, and Champ’s arm was around her shoulders. He was really close to her, facing toward her and sort of leaning into her. She was facing forward, her hands clasped in front of her resting on the counter top, but her head was turned toward him. They were talking about something, but when Waverly turned around and saw Nicole, her attention immediately turned from Champ. 

“Nicole.” She greeted, sliding out from under Champ’s arm. She slid off of the barstool onto her feet, pulling at the hem of her shirt slightly. Champ looked annoyed, staying seated and watching as Waverly walked towards Nicole. 

“Hey, Waverly, are you busy?” Nicole asked, which was a silly question, because obviously she was. Champ really did seem annoyed that Nicole even existed, much less that she was there. She had no idea that Waverly was even with Champ, but the thought made her sort of upset- jealous, in a unnecessary sort of way. She had assumed that Waverly was single, and now she felt rediculous for assuming that anyone as gorgeous as Waverly Earp could ever be single- especially when there were as many people in the town as there were (Dolls had said that there were 534, counting herself). Of course Waverly wouldn’t be single. There was probably more than one person who wanted to be with Waverly Earp. 

“No, I’m not busy,” Waverly said, “what’s going on?”

“Oh, Nicole said stupidly. We had expected Waverly to say that she was, in fact, too busy for Nicole Haught. “Well I just–“ she glanced at Champ, who was glaring at them. “Had some questions about Purgatory.” 

“Yeah, sure, we can talk- Champ was just about to go home.” She looked directly at Champ, who was still seated in the same place. His only reaction was to sigh loudly and stand, making his way toward Nicole and Waverly. He paused when he reached Waverly, wrapping his arms around her and pressing a large sloppy kiss on her cheek. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, but it was in a sort of lazy tone- a kind of tone that said that he didn’t want to see her tomorrow, and that tone irked Nicole.

“I love you,” Waverly said, her hands going to his arms, which were wrapped tightly around her. Champ didn’t reply- instead, he walked out the door without another word. 

“Sorry, he’s been in a weird mood recently,” Waverly said to Nicole. 

“It’s fine,” Nicole replied, trying not to let it show that she was irritated by him. Or, not really him, but his attitude toward Waverly. Not to mention the fact that Waverly felt the need to apologize for how he was acting. It didn’t help that that was the first time she had ever interacted with him- first impressions weren’t important to Champ Hardy, apparently. Waverly gestured to the bar, and they sat down next to each other, Nicole debating whether or not she should follow Champ and punch him in the nose for treating Waverly that way. That wasn’t acceptable, whether he was in a bad mood or not. 

“So, what did you want to know?” Waverly asked. Nicole wasn’t surprised at how quickly she wanted to change the subject. “There are– there are some things I can’t tell you. People’s privacy– especially considering you’re new and we don’t really know–“ 

“No no, I don’t want to know anything super private. I was just wondering- how did you start this place?” Nicole asked, trying her hardest not to sound stupid, “I mean- where did you get the idea, and how did you get this far, accumulate this many people?” 

“Oh, okay,” Waverly said, nodding and leaning on the counter. Nicole didn’t notice until that moment how _defined_ The muscles in Waverly’s arms were. “Well, that’s actually a pretty long story, but I can try to condense it a little bit.” 

“Four years ago, when the infections started, I lived here– in Purgatory. It was called Purgatory then too, but it was a lot different. Anyway- I lived here and so did Champ, and my aunt Gus and uncle Curtis. As soon as the infections started- or as soon as we got news of them, uncle Curtis started gathering supplies. That’s just how he was- always prepared.” She paused for a second, and then continued. 

“Anyway- us and several other people, including Wynonna, holed up here- mostly because it was closest to where we were when the dead really hit Purgatory.”

Waverly even _spoke_ beautifully. Her voice was nice, soft.  
Nicole could tell that she was actively making herself stay on the subject- and she wasn’t surprised that she was the type of person to go off track while talking. 

“Wynonna got here just before it got really bad- she and I grew up here but she was in Greece when she got news of the first few infections. When she heard, she got plane tickets down here as soon as possible. So, she got here before it got really bad, and Wynonna being Wynonna, she wasn’t content with all of us crammed in here. So, she convinced the rest of us to expand a little- it didn’t take long to figure out that the only way to kill them was by killing the brain. 

“So we did. We took back Purgatory little by little-even the homestead- which is where Wyn and I lived when we were little. With the little group we had, we had gotten about half of Purgatory back and we were working on coming up with a plan when Dolls came in- all guns blazing and killed a majority of the dead that were in the edge of town. Everyone freaked out and Wynonna went and threatened him with Peacemaker- which wasn’t really necessary, because he wasn’t a threat to us as it turns out. He was just looking for a place to hide out.” It figured that Dolls was the kind of person who could do that- he seemed like the type. 

“Anyway, that’s how he got here, and that’s when I started thinking, like, if we had a barrier of some kind, then we would have a lot less issues with the dead, and there would be less panic when people showed up- that’s when the idea of the fence and the safe place started. So, after that, we found Henry not far from here- he was trying to blow his way through a herd with two pistols and some dynamite. 

“So we brought him in too, because he was about to blow us all up. He helped come up with the steel beams reinforcing the fence, and helped me draw up the plans. So with our group we started building he fence, right, and we brought in Jeremy. We found him hiding out in a hospital when we went out for supplies. 

“He had the idea to bring in more people, which would speed up the development of the wall and give us more defensive opportunities, and the more people we have, the more we can do- you know, with the crops and livestock and defensive procedures. And then we kept growing from there- we still take in people, obviously, and as long as they do their part, they can stay. We have plenty of room, and we have more supplies to expand farther if we need to, and we have plenty of weapons- well, you probably already know how most of everything works- Dolls is pretty good at explaining stuff.” 

“Yeah- uh . . . wow,” Nicole said, “that’s . . . Impressive. So, you thought up a lot of the stuff around here, right?”

“Well, my official position is like a planner, basically, so I try to organize stuff and keep track of as much as I can.” Waverly really seemed proud of what they had here, and she should have been. 

“You should know that this place is amazing, Waverly. And you’ve saved a lot of people by doing this.” Nicole smiled. She meant what she said- they had saved a lot of people. 

“It’s really not hard now that we’re up and running,” Waverly said, running a hand through her hair. She had a lot of hair. “Complicated, yeah, but we have a system now.”

“Well I promise to try my hardest to keep that system intact,” Nicole stated. And she meant it. 

“You’re gonna do amazing here, Nicole. Everyone just needs to get used to you.” Waverly said. Her smile was genuine, beautiful. Her hand was on the counter, right next to Nicole’s own. As she finished her sentence, she reached forward a little, but stopped. Their eyes met, and the air got heavy. Swallowing, Nicole stood from her stool. 

“I should get going- I have an early shift tomorrow.” Nicole said, and Waverly smiled again. Her eyes were really pretty. 

“Okay,” She said, “have a good night- I’ll see you tomorrow some time I’m sure?”

“I hope so,” Nicole replied. God, she hoped she would see Waverly again tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoooooo sorry it’s been so long since I updated!! I’ve been kind of stressed out about school and shit but it’s all good because I’ve had SOME time to write a little and get shit out. Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s been so long!! I’ll probably not update again until the semester is over. I might, but just to keep you guys from getting tired of waiting, don’t expect it haha. This chapter is where stuff starts getting good, so BUCKLE UP MY DUDES.

The morning sunlight came through the window of Nicole’s bedroom, warming her face. Under the blankets she was almost too hot, but the softness of the bed and comfort of sleep kept her there just a bit longer. It had been too long since she had slept in a clean bed with clean blankets, or even slept at all for more than three hours at a time. Eventually, she forced herself to get up, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was only seven– her shift started at nine and ended at three. Lonny, another guard, had called her lucky for getting the short shift, and then said,

“Wait ‘til you get a night shift. In the cold. Just wait.”

She put on her clothes before leaving the bedroom, walking to the living room. It was different, having a house– an _entire_ house after going so long with nothing. It was big and empty and felt lonely, in a way. Lonliness was something else Nicole had gotten used to in the past years, unfortunately. The house felt how Nicole had grown to feel over time. Being the only one in the house, even though it was lonely, was also peaceful. It was different, because she wasn’t completely alone. There were people around– people close by, and it was comforting. There was still that mutual discomfort, because Nicole had only been there for about a week, but she felt safer here than she had anywhere in a long time. She decided that she should eat something, so she went into the kitchen. Waverly had brought her plenty of food and placed in the cabinet, telling her,

“Anything you need, you just go to shorty’s and ask- Gus will sign it out and give it to you. We try and keep track of all our supplies . . .” 

There was also the option of going to what used to be the diner, where they had meals prepared three times a day every day. Whoever the cook was, the food was very popular and they could only make so much every day, and then people had to go sign out food supplies and make do on their own. The limit system did not, however, apply to Wynonna and alcohol, Nicole noticed. There was no possible way that woman needed that much whiskey for anything– but the supply never ran out. Nicole didn’t say anything, though, because she had seen Waverly try once, and Wynonna just took the bottle anyway and left.

The past few days, Waverly and Nicole had spent more time together and got to know each other better. For example, Nicole learned that Waverly used to be a cheerleader, and could speak four languages, including Latin. She also learned that, as a child, Waverly had quite enjoyed Pokémon, to the extent where she had named her childhood pet hamster “Pikachu”. She also did yoga in her spare time, and was, in her own words, “super bendy”. All of this time spent getting to know Waverly, however, was proving to be rather problematic. Not only was Nicole finding herself wishing that Waverly was her own girlfriend, but Waverly’s boyfriend, Champ, seemed to get more and more agitated every time he saw the two of them around each other. The feeling was definitely mutual, though. The number of times that Nicole thought about punching Champ Hardy was climbing higher and higher every day. 

For an example as to why she hated him as much as she did, two days ago was a particular time he had really made her angry. She was walking into Shorty’s to see Waverly, because they had planned to have lunch that day. As she entered, her eyes were assaulted by Champ sitting where Waverly usually did. Although she was confused and didn’t particularly want to speak to him, Nicole smiled and greeted Champ politely. He was snippy and rude and Nicole already wanted to slap him, but she stayed and asked where Waverly was. 

“I dunno, I thought you probably did, since you’re trying so hard to get her to be your bed bitch.” Was what he responded with. Nicole was taken aback by his words, but not surprised in the slightest that he couldn’t think of something better than “bed bitch”. She would never in a thousand years consider making Waverly into her so-called “bed bitch”, and really she shouldn’t have given him the satisfaction of her reaction, but she did react. Pretty badly. She had yelled at him for a good ten to fifteen minutes, and he had yelled back. He had said some pretty nasty things to her, and she responded with some equally rude words. After that fifteen minutes ended, she had simply stormed out, deciding that she could come back later to see Waverly. She didn’t tell her about that encounter. 

Even though he was annoying and rude, he did seem to keep the agricultural group on track, which was good, but Nicole was almost sure someone else could do it just as easily. Not herself, but someone. It was evident that he and Waverly had been together for some time, though, and even though Nicole put her best efforts into flirting with her, there was always the subject of Champ in the way.

On her way to the fence for her shift, Nicole saw John Henry. They had met a few days ago when he had come to see Waverly in Shorty’s. He was very formal and polite, had a rather large moustache, and always wore a brimmed hat. As they passed on the street, he tipped his hat and smiled, making his moustache impossibly larger. Waverly seemed to be rather fond of him, and that was good enough for Nicole. She smiled back at him and waved, continuing on down the road to the old sheriff’s department, which was where the guards worked out of. As soon as she walked in, she was greeted by Dolls and Lonny, who were on their way out. 

“Oh, good. Haught, you can come with us.” Dolls said, handing her the rifle in his head and turning to go get another. Nicole froze. 

“Uh . . . Where?” She inquired, rather hesitant to even ask. 

“We’re going out to clear the traps,” Lonny told her, slinging his own weapon over his shoulder. Dolls made his way back over to them, now carrying a different rifle and a pistol in the holster attatched to his hip. 

“I think now’s a good time for you to learn how to do this, Haught,” he stated. ______________________________________ 

The process of emptying the traps probably didn’t take nearly as long as it seemed to. There were various types of them set up all around the outside of Purgatory, some a good distance away and some a bit closer. They were rather spread out, though, and that most likely made it seem as if it took longer. As they walked, Lonny and Nicole joked back and forth; but Dolls barely spoke except when he was instructing one of the other two to be quiet or when he was showing Nicole how to disable the traps and then reset them. Nicole noticed in the time she had been in purgartory that Dolls was sort of distant and _very_ quiet. The only person she had seen him relax and actually talk and laugh with was Wynonna, and even then the laughing was rare. He was a serious person, she supposed. He hardly ever joked around with the rest of the guards. 

There were a lot more dead in the traps today than usual, apparently, and Lonny said so as Nicole pushed her knife into the skull of one of them. She felt the body drop to the ground as she turned her head to face Lonny. 

“Really?” She asked. She had assumed that this number was about normal. Lonny nodded. 

”Usually there’s a lot less than this,” he said, gesturing to the one on the ground in front of Nicole. She glanced down at it. It had been almost a week since she had killed one, and she could have gone even longer. The first time she killed one, she went and threw up immediately afterwards. She had since gotten used to the concept of killing- and she didn’t want to be used to that, but she had to be. To survive. 

Nicole had no idea how long it had been by the time they were finished, but it was definitely some time in the afternoon. As they walked in the sheriff’s department, Dolls informed them both that they should probably start checking the traps more frequently than usual, since there were so many dead this time. 

Wynonna was sitting in the conference room with her feet propped up on the table when they entered. She waved, then gestured to a bag beside her that had those tiny powdered sugar donuts in them. _that explains how happy she looks,_ Nicole thought as she placed her rifle back in the armory. Nobody was allowed to have weapons out when they weren’t on duty or going out on a run. Except for Wynonna with Peacemaker. That revolver never left her side. It was sitting on the conference table next to the bag of donuts, actually, and Nicole was kind of nervous that Wynonna might accidentally kick it off. Nicole signed the rifle she had back into the sheet, and exited the armory. Just as she did, Champ Hardy walked into the conference room, where Dolls sat talking with Wynonna. 

“Hey, you didn’t tell me that you guys were going out,” he said to Dolls, who rolled his eyes. 

“Champ, you’re not going outside the fence. Unless you don’t remember the _last_ time that we took you out with us?” Dolls looked at Champ, who was hovering in the doorway with a rediculously cocky smile on his face. 

“Come on, that was an accident. And either way, what happened to second chances?” He pressed. He was almost too relaxed, like he felt like he had this argument in the bag. This time, Wynonna responded.

“Get your head out of your ass, Champ, it’s not a hat,” she said, taking her feet off the table, “ _either way,_ we talked about it, and decided that you’re not fit to go out. Risking everyone else’s lives who go out with you isn’t worth it.” Champ looked offended. 

“So you let that Haught chick go without a word, but _I’m_ not allowed to? She’s been here a week– you’ve known me for years!” He argued. Nicole didn’t know what Champ did to make them so adamant about not allowing him outside the fence, but she felt like she probably didn’t want to. 

“Nicole has _been_ out there, Champ, she knows how to handle those things,” Dolls said, and Nicole was surprised he used her first name. “If she had risked Lonny or I’s lives like you did, we wouldn’t let her be a guard at all.” Champ scoffed. 

“Okay, sure. I don’t trust her though. She’s gotten to everyone too fast. And I don’t like the way she looks at Waverly.” He paused, as if he was trying to think of something else negative to say. 

“My sister isn’t your property, Champ,” Wynonna stated. 

“Whatever, just don’t be surprised when she gets us all killed.” Champ told them, and then turned on his heel and stormed out of the conference room. As he passed Nicole, he glared pointedly at her, and then continued outside. She decided in that moment that she should be careful around Champ. She wasn’t sure what he might do if she agitated him too much. 

_____________________________________

On her way out of the station, Nicole thought she should probably go home and bathe– or at least change her clothes. The ones she was wearing she had gone out in that morning, and they weren’t exactly clean. 

She took a shower as soon as she got to her house, and shortly after she got out there was a knock at the door. When she opened it, she was greeted by a smiling Waverly Earp, holding a small box filled with cookies. 

“Waverly,” Nicole greeted, a bit surprised by the sudden appearance. 

“Hi,” Waverly said, lifting her hand on greeting. “I just brought these for you– I thought you might like them– I heard you went out today for the first time since you got here, and I thought I would come check on you. Usually when people go out the first time it’s a little rough.”

Nicole smiled. The fact that Waverly had thought of her made her heart warm. 

“Thank you,” She said, then moved aside to let Waverly in. “I uh– didn’t expect you.” She took the box of cookies from her and set it down on the table in the kitchen. Nicole realized as she put the cookies down that Waverly was making her a bit nervous. In a good way, though. She was nervous and that was a bit annoying because she felt like she shouldn’t be. 

“Can I . . . Get you anything?” She asked, but Waverly shook her head. 

“No, thank you,” she said, “I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay. And I brought those because I thought you might like them– and, you know, we had extras at Shorty’s so I boxed some and brought them over here.” 

“Oh,” Nicole replied, “okay, well thank you.” 

She had already said that. She gestured to the couch, and they both sat down. This gave a second for Nicole to try and compose herself- she couldn’t bear for it to continue being this awkward. It wouldn’t have been, probably, except Waverly had caught her off guard, and her hair was still wet from her shower, and she was still a bit irritated from that interaction with Champ earlier. 

“Are you? Doing okay, I mean?” Waverly asked, her legs crossed and hands clasped together. She was a bit tense, Nicole noticed. Probably from the awkward feeling in the air. Nicole cleared her throat. 

“I’m fine, yeah. I didn’t uh . . . get any more sensitive to them than I already was, anyway,” she said, looking at her own hands and then at Waverly’s. “Not that that’s a bad thing,” she added, not wanting to make Waverly feel like her attempts to comfort her were for nothing. They were not, in fact, for nothing. Nicole felt much better knowing that Waverly cared about her enough to check on her. It felt nice to know that she had someone, and Nicole hoped that Waverly knew that she cared for her the same way. 

The only thing that could have helped Nicole feel any better than Waverly already had wouldn’t be if the world wasn’t chaotic any more. Well, it was past chaotic, by now. Now, it was a full-on shitstorm. Nicole hadn’t forgotten about that shitstorm in the few days she had been here, as much of a calm break as it was. There was no way she could have forgotten. Clearing her throat, Nicole turned to look back at Waverly. 

“Thank you for thinking about me,” she said quietly, “it means a lot, really.” 

“Anything you need, Nicole, whenever you need it.” Waverly replied, and Nicole smiled. It really was a disappointment that Waverly was with Champ, because Nicole could think of several other ways to show her gratitude for Waverly’s kindness, but even Nicole Haught had boundaries, whether she liked said boundaries or not. She may poke and prod at them to test how strong those boundaries were, (in this case they were strong, but only because of Nicole’s respect for Waverly, not out of her liking for Champ), but she never crossed those boundaries. 

Waverly stayed until the sun started to go down, at which point they had talked for about four hours. Waverly left after noticing how late it was getting, bidding Nicole a farewell after insisting she didn’t need Nicole to walk her home or anything. Waverly was very independant, and Nicole caught onto that quickly. 

After going back inside, Nicole took a deep breath. She was well aware of the fact that Waverly was off limits, but she was so sweet and so beautiful and Nicole was smitten. That certainly was not a good thing, because she was already on Champ’s shit list, and Wynonna seemed to be rather protective of her little sister. Even with that, though, Nicole felt like she had noticed Waverly’s touch a little too frequently, her eyes lingering a little too long whenever they look at eachother. She may have been projecting, but Waverly was just so beautiful. 

As Nicole settled into bed, she wondered what tomorrow would be like. Peaceful, probably. She didn’t have a shift until eight that night, so she had all day to find things to do. What _would_ she do? It had been so long since she could have a time to just relax. . . It had been too long. Did she even know how to relax any more? She supposed she’d find out, or find something to do if she _had_ somehow forgotten how to have calm and quiet peace. 

______________________________________ 

As soon as Nicole woke up the next morning, she felt like there was something not right. Something made her feel off, and she didn’t like it. The whole morning she felt as though something was going to go wrong, but nothing did. That she knew of, anyway. Even in the afternoon, after she had eaten and gone to say hello to Waverly, that impending feeling of danger never left. It faltered for a few moments, but never left. Nicole found herself hyper-sensitive to her surroundings all day. 

Even as she went through town to go and check whether she could do anything for Waverly (she got rather bored with nothing to do), she felt like something wasn’t right. It was chilly that day, but not cold. There was a necessity for a jacket at least, but somehow Nicole felt warm. It wasn’t cloudy– in fact, the skies were very clear, which hadn’t been the case for the past couple of days. 

There were people from the various groups all around town, running back and forth from one place to another. A little girl waved at Nicole as she walked past, and Nicole waved back as the girl’s mother led her away. There were several children here, which Nicole was finally starting to get used to again. She hadn’t been around children in ages, and she was glad that changed. Sometimes the little voices would yell a hello as she walked past the “school” on her way around the fence when she was on duty. It always made her smile. 

Pushing the door open to Shorty’s, Nicole was met by Wynonna’s back turned to her; she was standing at the bar talking with Waverly, who looked as though she wanted to scream out of anger. 

“I know, but I- I can’t exactly-“ Wynonna stopped talking as soon as the door opened. She turned to see who it was that came in. “Haught,” she greeted. She looked like she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t. 

“Hey, Wynonna,” Nicole said warily. She felt like she was intruding. Waving slightly awkwardly, her hand went to the back of her neck and she spotted Wynonna’s revolver on the counter. She called it “peacemaker”. It was a .45 colt, and a well taken care of at that. Nicole still thought that the length of the barrel must throw off the aim, but she still said nothing about it. The air in the room was heavy, and it was making Nicole uneasy. She decided that going and doing something else was probably a good idea. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt anything,” she said, inching back towards the door. “I’ll come back later, probably.” And she promptly exited the bar. 

On her way down the street. She saw Lonny, who asked if she was ready for her night shift. When she said she was, he shook his head. 

“No, you’re not,” he insisted. It couldn’t possibly be that bad, could it? 

____________________________________ 

“Okay, Haught, im gonna head out. You gonna be okay here on your own?” Dolls asked. He seemed tired. 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Go get some sleep,” Nicole replied, waving him away. He had just given her instructions on how to get through the night, and it seemed relatively easy. The most difficult part would probably be staying awake, but Waverly had kindly brought her a thermos full of coffee to help keep her awake; so she hoped that there wouldn’t be be any issues. 

_______________________________________ 

In the first two hours, everything was quiet. Nicole sat at her given post, clutching the warm thermos tightly, listening to the crickets and the faint sounds of frogs chirping. It was quiet and calm, and it was nice. The coffee Waverly had brought was good, and had an interesting flavor behind it– almost earthy, but not quite. The quiet of the night gave Nicole time to think– maybe a little too much. 

She thought about Waverly’s smile when she handed her the thermos. 

“In case you get cold,” she had said. 

Waverly was too kind. 

And then, Nicole thought of Shay. What would Shay think of Waverly? Shay, Nicole’s gorgeous wife. They had been married two years when the world ended. They were together one more after it started. Shay was a Doctor, and a damn good one at that. 

Nicole was so scared when she got bitten. She was so scared to lose her. 

Shay assured her that it would be okay, that everything would be fine, even when she knew the fever was going to take her. 

Nicole had held Shay’s hand as she pressed the knife into her skull. She felt her body go limp.

Nicole hadn’t noticed that she was crying, but she noticed the tear drip down the bridge of her nose. She shouldn’t be crying about this, it hadn’t been too long since it happened. God, she missed Shay. She would probably actually like Waverly, though. They were both crazy smart. They would get along. She wished she could talk to Shay about her. That first year of the apocalypse was the worst by far. But it could always get worse from here, she supposed. 

Movement caught Nicole’s attention off to her left, and she turned her head sharply. Barely, she saw a figure at the top of the fence about a hundred yards down. They looked behind them, then pointed their light at the ground on the other side. They were going over. Out. 

Shit. 

”Hey!” Nicole shouted, taking a few steps forward. Maybe, if they knew someone saw them, they would come back over. The flashlight pointed at Nicole directly, and then it happened. The person jumped down to the outside of the fence. 

”Shit,” Nicole said. Someone was about to die– while she was on duty. No. No, that wasn’t going to happen. Quickly as she could, Nicole ran forward and grabbed onto the ladder attatched to the fence. She took the steps two, three at a time. Fast wasn’t fast enough. Once she got to the top, she flicked on her own flashlight and shone it down at the ground below. At first, she saw nothing, but then another movement. Her eyes followed the person as they ran out, away from the fence line. They looked shorter, dark haird, and kind of stocky. It was dark, and they were quick enough that she didn’t get a very good look at them. Down the side she dropped, sort-of landing-falling-rolling at the bottom, and she scrambled to her feet to sprint after this person. This complete idiot who snuck out of Purgatory, to do god-knows-what in the middle of the night during the apocalypse. 

Whoever it was, they were quick– but noisy and clumsy. Nicole knew exactly where they were the whole time- which she used to her advantage. 

“Stop, you’re going to get hurt!” she yelled after them. They were getting further and further from Purgatory by the second. 

A second later, the running footsteps stopped. There was silence. Nicole could only hear her own breathing, and the sound of the wind in the trees. Where had they gone? She pointed her flashlight forward, then to the left, then right. Nothing. Turning full circle, she looked around. There seemed to be nothing- but wait. She turned back to her right. There, around thirty yards away, standing still and breathing heavily, was Champ Hardy. There was a large dagger in his hand and a backpack over one shoulder. 

“Champ?” Nicole whisper-yelled. “What in the _hell_ are you doing?” 

Champ didn’t answer, just turned and started to run away. Nicole opened her mouth, stopping Champ's motion when she spoke. 

“Come back to town,” she insisted, “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but–“ her sentence was interrupted by the snapping of a twig and soft snarling. She and Champ both turned toward the noise. There was a dead one right next to them, and Nicole’s hand went to her belt to pull out a knife. 

“Stay–“ she started, but it was too late. Champ screamed loudly and launched himself at the creature, taking it to the ground. Seconds later, before Nicole knew what was happening, the thing was on top of him, and his screaming was getting louder with a series of “help!”s. Nicole was beside him in three strides, separating him from the dead creature in a few seconds and ending the thing’s life– if you could call it a life. 

“Believe me now?” She asked, wiping the blood off of the blade on her pant leg. Champ just sneered. Of course. 

_____________________________________ 

As Nicole expected, Dolls was waiting at the gate when they arrived back, with Wynonna and Waverly beside him. They had to have heard the screaming. As soon as they entered, Champ hugged Waverly and launched into a story about how great he was and how he saved Nicole’s life. She was too busy speaking with Dolls to correct him, but she would in a moment. 

She told Dolls everything, every lovely detail down to the crickets chirping. He asked her why Champ went out, to which she had no answer. She had no clue why Champ had gone out there, and didn’t know if she wanted to. A second-long glance at him hugging Waverly and talking himself up made Nicole resent him even more, if that was possible. 

Lord knows why Champ Hardy went outside the fence, but Nicole was going to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This definitely still needs some editing, but I’ve been working on it for too long already and I’m kinda getting tired of working on the same chapter. Thanks for reading!! -A


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn’t what I was originally going to do with this chapter, but it ended up this way so here ya go.

One month. A month’s time had passed since Nicole had arrived in Purgatory, and since Champ’s escapade, there hadn’t been any large issues. Besides still keeping a close eye on Champ, Nicole had been relatively busy. Dolls had agreed with her suggestion of watching Champ and making sure he wasn’t getting into trouble, but she wasn’t simply doing that. No, she also kept up with her guard duties, and helped Waverly around town however she could. She even took a few shifts at the pantry with Gus, which brought up the issue the town faced today: 

“We’re running low on food supplies,” Nicole said, setting down a stack of notebooks. The notebooks were what they used for logs; Waverly had asked Nicole to go around town collecting them. There was the weapons log, the guards log (where they kept track of who had what shifts), the agriculture log (the amounts of food they were growing), the population log (which was added to relatively infrequently), and the pantry log, where they kept track of the amount of food and water they had overall. 

“I know,” said Waverly absentmindedly. She had picked up the agricultural log and she as looking it over. “Gus told me about two days ago. Wynonna and I are going on a run today to see what we can find— what we change should last a few more days ‘til we come back, and it looks like the ag group is gonna have more food coming up pretty quick . . .” She was thinking aloud, something that she did frequently. She also had a habit of playing with her hair while she thought, which today fell in waves over her shoulders. Nicole had gotten used to both of these things. 

“Who’s gonna be in charge while the two of you are gone?” Nicole asked, slightly concerned. 

“Oh yeah, I’ve been picking up as many shifts as I can. Y’know, I wanna help out,” she said. Waverly nodded back in response and hummed. 

“I could go with you and Wynonna,” Nicole offered, leaning against the counter. “If you wanted extra help, I mean— more hands to carry supplies.” 

“Sure, yeah,” said Waverly, “I was actually going to check and see if we could get someone else to come— the more supplies we carry back, the longer it’ll all last.” Her eyes flitted to the door behind Nicole, which had just opened. Wynonna came in with a cup of coffee in hand and stopped, looking between the two of them. 

“What?” She asked, wondering why the both of them had stopped to stare at her. 

“Nicole— just offered to come with us on the run,” Waverly said, leaning back on the stool she was seated on. 

“Oh, is that all? The way you two were looking, I thought something bad had happened,” Wynonna carried on across the front of the room to the counter where Nicole and Waverly were. 

“That’s fine with me, Haught, but you’ve got to keep up. We move fast out there and you don’t want to end up like Justin.” 

Nicole was confused. 

“Justin?” She asked. Waverly rolled her eyes. 

“It’s a joke Wynonna tells— a joke that’s _not_ funny.” She emphasized, giving Wynonna a look. 

“It _is_ funny, don’t you remember Jeremy’s face when I told him—“ 

“Yes, I remember, and I didn’t think it was funny then, either, Wynonna.” 

“—anyway, Haught, if you’re coming, you’d better go pack some stuff up because we’re leaving ASAP. And,” she added, “you’re going to want to go get a gun and some ammunition. We’re gonna meet a lot of those fuckers while we’re out there.”

______________________________________

Wynonna was talking to Dolls before they left, Dolls making certain that they had packed sufficient supplies. They had already dealt with Waverly’s goodbye to Champ, and Nicole had almost been reveling in his anger about the fact that he hadn’t been able to go but she herself had, but then he had said something that made Waverly rather upset, and Nicole didn’t enjoy it so much any more. 

“I come back in one piece every time,” Wynonna said to Dolls, making her way to Waverly’s Jeep, which was what they hadn’t decided to travel in. Waverly was already in the driver’s seat, staring straight ahead with her jaw clenched tightly. She hadn’t said much since she spoke to Champ, and Nicole decided that she didn’t want to make it any worse, so she didn’t say anything either. Wynonna had shouted “Shotgun!” As soon as they had decided on using Waverly’s Jeep, so Nicole was seated in the back, wishing quietly that champ hadn’t upset Waverly. The passenger side door opened and Wynonna climbed in, closing the door. Dolls poked his head in the open window. 

“You gonna be alright to sit there Haught?” He asked, looking at the way she was seated. Perched among the three backpacks they had brought, her long legs made it seem a much tighter fit than it actually was. 

“Yep, ‘m fine,” she said, shifting the bag next to her a bit. 

“Oh, I didn’t even think about that, you’re probably cramped back there,” Waverly said finally, turning around. 

“No, I’m good,” Nicole insisted, “it might be a little cramped when we get the supplies in here, but it’s okay.” 

“Maybe we should take the truck,” Wynonna said, glancing back at Nicole. 

A few minutes later, they were sandwiched in Wynonna’s truck, Nicole sitting in between the two Earp sisters, Wynonna in the driver’s seat and Waverly on the passenger side. Nicole didn’t know if this was much less cramped on the seating side of things, but they could now put all of the supplies in the bed, which would fit everything much more easily. They had spoken to Henry, who was also standing outside to see them off. When Wynonna leaned out the window and pecked Dolls on the lips, Henry furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at his boots. Nicole decided not to inquire about this, though she thought she already knew what it was about. 

Soon enough, they were outside the gate and on their way down the road, Nicole’s legs awkwardly off to the side by Waverly’s, because the drive shaft tunnel would have put her knees right in Wynonna’s face. 

“How often do you usually have to go on these runs?” Nicole asked no one in particular. Wynonna answered. 

“Depends on how much we get on each run,” she said, glancing over at Waverly, who was staring silently out the window. “You okay, waves?” Waverly looked over, and blinked. 

“Hmm? Y—yeah, I’m fine,” she replied, giving a small smile. 

“Okay,” Wynonna said, but her voice sounded skeptical. The two of them had been a bit tense the past couple of days because of an argument that they had. The argument, which Nicole had accidentally caught the tail end of, had been about Champ. Wynonna seemed to be concerned about her sister’s relationship with the idiot, and decided to say something about it. This, of course, rather upset Waverly and after the argument ended, the two of them didn’t speak for nearly two days. While Nicole agreed with Wynonna on the matter, she would not have said anything herself, and was almost certain that Wynonna had done so because of the amount of alcohol she had consumed that day. 

The awkward feeling of being the ‘new person’ had subsided now that enough time had passed, and Nicole felt as though even Wynonna had started to warm up to her, even joking with her a bit from time to time. Nicole picked up on more details about everyone than she let on, because some things she observed were more private than others. For example, while she didn’t know exactly the relationship between Wynonna and Henry, it was obvious that they had had something before. That was something Nicole had decided not to mention. On the other hand, she had noticed Jeremy being a bit touchy with a guy named Will, and when she mentioned it to him he got rather stuttery. 

After a long while of driving in silence, Nicole decided that she couldn’t take it any more. 

“So,” she stated, half expecting a glare from one of the other two, but when she didn’t get one; she continued. “Is there any specific place that you go on runs?”

“Well, we’ve emptied a lot of places,” Wynonna said, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. “So we go as far as we can, gather what we find, and go from there.”

“That’s why the runs usually take a couple of days now,” Waverly said, “we’ve got pretty much everything from the closest towns.” 

“Okay, so, we just keep going ‘til there’s something you don’t recognize?” Nicole said, looking between the two sisters. 

“Yep,” Wynonna said, “pretty much. Kinda depressing, when you put it that way, but . . .” This made Waverly smile a little. 

“It’s what we’ve got,” she said. Wynonna nodded. 

 

As the sky darkened, they came to a town and slowed down to a stop. It looked the same as all of the other towns that they had driven through; just as empty and barren as all of them. There were a few cars left on the road, and the few shops on the main road looked as though they had already been ransacked. 

“Well,” said Wynonna, turning off her pickup, “first stop.” 

They all climbed out of the cab, staring ahead at the abandoned town. Nicole’s boots hit the ground and she took a deep breath. The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, giving the sky an orange and pink tint. It was almost a beautiful sight— had it not been such a situation that she knew what kinds of things likely happened here. She could imagine the chaos that went on here after the end started, mirroring those situations she had experienced herself. They walked through the ruined street, and stopped at a small convenience store as they came across it. The windows were so grimy they could hardly see through them, but the glass door had already been smashed in— someone had already been inside to help themselves to what had been left.

“Can’t hurt to see what they left,” Nicole said, drawing her pistol. She didn’t want to meet any undead monsters inside, but she wanted to be prepared if they did. Wynonna drew Peacemaker and Waverly took the shotgun from her back. One by one, they entered the store and looked around. The shelves in front of the store were completely bare, but the ones farthest from the door had a few things on them. A small number of cans —four or five— and a package of baby food. Nicole paused before picking it up. 

“Do we need this?” She asked. 

“Uh, yeah,” Waverly answered, “Melissa Jones is having a baby soon.” Nicole nodded and scooped it up off the shelf, placing it in the bag and turning back around. Wynonna had continued toward the door in the back of the store, and was trying to pry it open. Nicole and Waverly started towards her, Nicole glancing around making sure they hadn’t missed anything. 

“Damn thing’s locked,” Wynonna said, letting her arms drop. Nicole noticed suddenly that Wynonna's hands were shaking, but she knew better than to ask if she was okay; Wynonna probably would have bitten her head off. Waverly got close to her sister and muttered something to her quietly, and Wynonna slowly walked off towards the counter, bending over to check the shelf underneath. 

“She okay?” Nicole asked Waverly, her voice almost a whisper. Waverly has bent down and pulled a long thin piece of metal out of her pocket— a lock pick. She inserted it into the lock and began twisting and turning it. 

“She will be,” she answered, her tone indicating that Nicole probably shouldn’t ask any more. She was genuinely concerned, though, when Waverly had successfully unlocked the door and Wynonna came back over. As she passed Nicole to enter the small room, Nicole noticed in the fast dimming light that Wynonna’s eyes were red and swollen. 

The back room resembled the front of the store— shelves bare but for about four cans of soup and a can of beans, which Nicole put in the bag with the other food. 

“We’re gonna need to find water to take back, too,” Wynonna said as they exited the store. The moon was their only source of light now as they walked further down the road, keeping an eye out for any places that may have something useful to them. They passed by what looked like it was once a department store, which now had around five dead ones trapped inside. They simply kept walking past it, ignoring the snarling noises coming from behind the door. 

Being as quiet as possible, they crept down the empty street, covered by darkness. Not too far down the road, they found an old pharmacy. Deciding it couldn’t hurt to check if anything was left, the three of them pushed through the doorway. The small building had a few shelves in the middle and a counter off to the right. A door was ajar on the other side of the room, and the shelves along the walls were nearly empty. It was dimly lit by two windows, and they could hardly see. 

“Pick up whatever you think can be used,” Wynonna whispered, and started over to the shelves, weaving between them and picking up what was left. The things they gathered were shoved into Nicole’s bag, and then they made their way to the door in the back, which they assumed would provide access to the area behind the counter. Slowly entering that back hallway, they heard faint snarling coming from the men’s bathroom. 

“Leave it,” Waverly said, turning to the right, away from the snarling. Nicole shrugged and followed, but Wynonna lingered just a moment before joining them. The door to enter the area behind the counter had a sign that read “EMPLOYEES ONLY” in big red lettering. They ignored it, and entered.

This, like everywhere else they had been, was empty. There was only one bottle of ibuprofen, which Nicole stuck in her bag. 

“Damn Revenants have come and taken everything,” Wynonna muttered. The name “revenants” rang a bell, but Nicole didn’t quite remember who they were so she spoke,

“Revenants?” She asked, eyebrows furrowed. 

“Shitheads who think it’s okay to kill living people,” Wynonna said, glancing at Waverly and then turning to check the shelves one more time. No other explaination was provided, so Nicole looked at Waverly, who shook her head. _Not now_ , her face read, so Nicole let it go. 

As they left the pharmacy, Wynonna advised that it was too dark to be able to search anywhere else properly, so they stowed away in an empty building that had a door intact. After checking all of the rooms thoroughly, they settled down in the middle of the floor in the front. Wynonna insisted upon staying awake to keep watch, so Waverly and Nicole both laid down on the hard floor. Exhaustion took over Nicole quickly, and soon enough she was asleep despite the familiar discomfort of the hard floor.

Nicole woke from a dreamless sleep to find it still dark outside. Wynonna was still sitting up, her face illuminated by the soft moonlight coming in the windows. Her arm was slung over one knee, her other hand resting on Peacemaker. She was blinking a lot, and it wasn’t until she let out a long, shaky breath that Nicole realized— Wynonna was crying. Nicole turned her head to see Waverly sound asleep, her back pressed against Nicole’s side. Wynonna must have heard her movement, because she turned her body away from the two of them. Biting her lip, Nicole tried to decide whether to attempt to comfort Wynonna or not. On one hand, Wynonna could bite her head off for bringing attention to the fact that’s she was crying. But on the other, she was suffering, and she might need someone.

Nicole carefully detached herself from Waverly, surprised at how cold it felt without the extra body heat that Waverly supplied. Sitting up, she quietly shifted towards Wynonna. 

“Hey, Wynonna,” she whispered quietly. 

“What do you want, Haught?” Wynonna replied, her voice a bit _too_ controlled, in Nicole’s opinion. 

“Are you alright?” Nicole asked. She heard Wynonna swallow before she spoke. 

“‘M fine,” she responded, “go back to sleep.” Her tone was sharp, but her voice cracked on the last syllable, and Nicole clenched her jaw. She reached out to put her hand hand on Wynonna’s shoulder, but before she did, Wynonna spoke. “If you touch me, you will lose your hand.”

Nicole lowered her hand. 

It was silent for a moment, and Nicole looked at Waverly, who was still asleep on the floor. She was curled up around herself— she was too cold, trying to trap her own body heat in her sleep. Nicole pulled her own jacket off and draped It over Waverly’s torso, then looked back at Wynonna. Wynonna was watching her, and and when she looked back, Wynonna made eye contact with her. 

“Thank you,” she said, “for doing so much for her.” 

“Of course, it’s the least I can do; you know,” she replied. Wynonna took a deep breath and looked back towards the front of the building. 

“Really though, are you okay?” Nicole asked. 

“I’m alright, don’t worry about me.” Wynonna said. 

“You can trust me,” Nicole promised, “whatever’s wrong, I won’t say anything to anyone. You can talk to me.” 

“Yeah, I know, Haught, you’re— you’re great. Just . . . Some shit that’s over that I haven’t gotten over.” 

“Does . . .” Nicole paused. “Does it have to do with the revenants?” She asked. “I noticed that when they came up . . .”

This made Wynonna look directly at her. 

“Yeah, it has something to do with them,” Wynonna said shortly. 

“Okay,” Nicole replied. She had just made the decision to drop the subject when Wynonna spoke again. 

“They don’t just kill people randomly,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “They uh . . . They take people. Take whoever they want, and do god knows what to them.” Nicole stayed quiet, not quite sure what to say. 

“They’ve taken some of ours, Haught. Not recently, not since . . .” Her voice trailed off, and Nicole noticed that Wynonna was staring at her hands. 

“I have—“ her voice broke and she stopped, clearing her throat. “I had a daughter,” she got out, and Nicole froze. _Had_ a daughter, was what she said. Oh, god. 

“Henry and I . . . _we_ had a daughter.” Wynonna was refusing to look up, her eyes locked on her fingers. “She was so beautiful.” Her voice dropped quieter, barely audible. 

“God, we tried so hard to make her life normal, you know? We kept her safe, tried to raise her right. We found toys; he even _made_ some. We were a family. A fucked up one, but we made it work. We loved each other . . . But then—“ she cleared her throat again. “Then they came— the revenants. Right after her first birthday.” There was a short pause. “We tried to keep them out— but they got in. We tried to hide her, but uh . . . they found her. And they knew she was mine.” A tear dripped from Wynonna’s nose down to her lap. 

“And since she was mine, yknow, and it was my idea to try and keep ‘em out— they . . .” She turned her head upwards, blinking rapidly. “Just . . . came in, took her and . . . that’s it. They didn’t take anything else— only her. I tried to stop them, I—“ she swallowed audibly. Nicole noticed that there were tears running down her own face. “I _tried_ to stop them. I think I made it worse . . . There were a lot of them . . . I killed so many. But it wasn’t enough. They got away with her— they took her away.” There was a moment of quiet where all they could hear was their own breathing. Wynonna’s was shaky. 

“I’m so sorry,” Nicole whispered, wiping tears from her cheeks. “I had no idea . . .” She tried to think of something to say, but there was nothing. Nothing she could think of to ease pain like this. 

“What was her name?” Nicole asked. Wynonna hesitated, then opened her mouth to answer. 

“Alice Michellle,” she said, “after Henry’s and my mothers.” 

“We . . . we split up after that. There was too much shit to deal with— too much pain. I couldn’t even look at him. So why would I stay, right? I left him.” She paused. “ I think it did us both some good. I’m with Dolls, and I mean,” another pause. “Yeah.” Wynonna cleared her throat. “Now you know all of my bullshit.”

“Hey, you tried your hardest, and gave her everything you could. That’s what matters.” Nicole said, trying to comfort Wynonna as best she could. 

“Sure thing, Haught. Please don’t try to give me advice—ever.” Wynonna had put up her shields again, her expression locked up and unreadable in the darkness. 

“Okay,” Nicole replied quietly. 

The quiet lingered until Wynonna said,

“Go to sleep, you’re gonna need it.” 

Nicole laid back down next to Waverly, and Waverly turned over, wrapping both of her arms around one of Nicole’s. Waverly let out a quiet sigh in her sleep, and Nicole closed her eyes, letting sleep take her, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s been so long since I updated this!! I’ve been trying to keep up with School and lost track of time since I last wrote anything :/. However, I DID start a medieval AU and chapter one is up right now if you wanna check that out— Knight Nicole is one of my favorites. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! Please give kudos if you liked it and comment what you thought!!


	6. Chapter 6

In the morning, the sun came brightly through the windows in the front of the building, waking Nicole easily. Opening her eyes, she saw that Wynonna was still sitting up beside her, and was staring out the windows, her legs crossed now. Waverly was still attached to Nicole's side, asleep and gripping her arm tightly, as if it were a lifeline. The quiet of the room was filled with breathing, but hardy anything else. It had to be somewhat early, because the sun was still low in the sky outside. There were no birds chirping, however, and no sound coming from outside in general. Nicole thought this was sort of odd, but then again, the small town was overrun by the dead. They likely consumed any living thing they could find, and kept anything else away.

"Haught," Wynonna's voice said, and Nicole looked up at her. It was a bit intimidating, laying in the floor with Wynonna Earp staring down at you, gun in hand and a rather grumpy look on her face.

" . . . Yes?" Nicole replied, slightly uncomfortable.

"We're gonna have to leave soon- the more ground we cover today, the more supplies we get and the better off we are." Wynonna seemed as though she was at least slightly better than she had been the previous night, although her expression made Nicole feel like she might gun her down any second.

"Right, yeah," Nicole nodded, agreeing with Wynonna's logic. The meager supplies they had been able to find would not make any difference in their supply situation in Purgatory, and they were not supposed to be gone for long. Although, the places they had gone through held little potential. They likely would have to go farther out from Purgatory from here, and Nicole was hoping that they wouldn't encounter anything other than a few dead ones. Hopefully, the people in Purgatory didn't get uneasy when their Fearless Leader was absent for long periods of time.

Nicole turned her head, looking at Waverly, who was still fast asleep, her breathing even and her head rested on Nicole's shoulder. Though she hated to move and wake her (she seemed like she was comfortable laying there asleep), she also knew that they needed to be on their way. Sitting up slightly, she placed her other hand on Waverly's shoulder.

"Waves," she spoke softly. Her voice elicited no response. " _Waves_ ," she said again. This time, Waverly shifted slightly and opened her eyes.

"Hm?" Waverly's eyebrows furrowed, her tired eyes looking at Nicole.

"We need to go," Nicole said. She pushed a hair out of Waverly's face.

"Okay," Waverly said, unwrapping herself from Nicole's arm and sitting up. Nicole turned back around, and noticed that Wynonna had been watching their entire interaction. She cleared her throat at Wynonna's stony, tight-lipped expression, not much better than the almost scary look she had given Nicole first thing in the morning.

Their movement, though at first sleepy, picked up quickly. The knowledge of time passing quickly pressed them to move faster, eating a meager breakfast of granola bars and water (Wynonna drank a redbull). After a fast sweep of the place they had camped in, they set off to search more buildings. By the fourth one, Nicole was slightly worried. They had barely found enough to fill the duffel bag she was carrying about a fourth of the way, and the day was continuing on at a fast pace. The cool air bit at Nicole's uncovered face as they walked down the street, having just cleared out an old store of around ten cans of food and three bottles of water. The three of them walked together, Wynonna slightly ahead, Nicole and Waverly next to each other. Nicole moved a bit closer to Waverly, their arms almost brushing as they moved farther down the empty road.

"Is it usually this empty when you go on runs?" she asked, glancing over at Waverly.

"No," Waverly replied, "But out scouting route sometimes crosses paths with places the Revenants have already hit. Most of the time they're pretty careless, so there's some stuff left we can grab. This time, though there's not as much as normally."

This troubled Nicole a little, because with how low their food supply was, if their findings didn't improve, Nicole didn't know what would happen.

* * *

 

After searching several more buildings and coming up with almost nothing, they made the decision to move on to the next town, hoping that they might have more luck there. Making their way back up the road to the truck, Nicole felt nervous. What if the Revenants hadn't left there too long ago, and they met on the road? She had no idea who they were, but if they could march directly into a camp and take people whenever they wanted, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to meet these people. Wynonna and Waverly didn't seem worried about this, though, so she didn't bring it up as they got into Wynonna's truck, the bag of supplies in the bed, and started down the road to the next town.

The road was much more rough than it had been before the apocalypse started, so the bumps and noise were much louder inside the cab than what might have been beforehand. It wasn't enough to bother, but Nicole noticed it. The windows of the truck were rolled up, trying to block out the cold air, and it wasn't bothersome, but Nicole appreciated when Waverly scooted just a little bit closer to her, her body heat supplying a little extra warmth. She had given Nicole back her jacket that morning, and put her own on, thanking her for covering her up in the night. Apparently she got cold easily, and hated it, because she mentioned that she had brought more than one jacket of her own, and that she did not mind getting one instead of having Nicole give hers to her. Nicole did not mind sharing.

On their way down the path, the three of them made light conversation, and during this conversation Nicole learned that the Earp sisters enjoyed tormenting each other about silly things, teasing one another off and on throughout the conversation. Waverly mentioned several times the relationship Wynonna had with Dolls, which Wynonna simple shrugged at. Their relationship was, in fact, perplexing, because if you blatantly asked either of them, they both denied it, but Wynonna was much more open about it with her sister. Their back-and-forth banter made Nicole laugh a few times, and for the time they were in the truck on their way, she felt comfortable and calm. Like she could get used to being with the Earps.

They reached their destination relatively quickly, driving past the rusted, falling down sign welcoming them to a town that no longer had a name. As they reached a shack on the edge of town, Wynonna parked the truck and turned it off, saying that there was no reason to drive it into town in order to get around and waste gasoline. They all climbed out of the cab once more, beginning their walk into town. Just before they reached it, from the side of the road in the trees came a soft snarling sound. The dead. They didn't see any, but made sure to keep quiet as they made it the rest of the way into town.

Here it seemed a bit less dreary and hopeless, empty as the place was. The first building they entered had a few shelves that were not full, but certainly not empty. It filled Nicole's duffel bag up completely, and they immediately decided that perhaps they would have better luck here. After going through three more buildings, the other two's duffel bags were nearly full as well. They entered an old grocery store, pushing through the broken glass door and making their way around fallen insulation and bits of ceiling that littered the floor. The shelves had some cans on them, but it seemed as though the building had been a point to search for food for nearly every living person that had either passed through the town or died there. Weapons drawn, the three women made their way towards the back of the store, Wynonna in the front, Waverly and Nicole going around to the outer walls.

The lack of dead inside was strange, considering the front was entirely open, and that kept them on their guard, pushing in a line directly across around the shelves that were all around the large room. Several were knocked over, most likely by the dead that came in and out. As they reached the back of the room and the door to storage, they looked back behind them. There wasn't a single dead one that they met in the whole room, but they kept silent in case of any that were behind the door. Wynonna gestured for the other two to be quiet, then pointed for them to be directly behind her as she opened the door. Their weapons needed to be the first things through, and they positioned themselves to make that so. Each of them armed with knives in one hand and firearms in the other, the door opened and they stepped through.

The goal was to make the least amount of noise possible, and attempt to clear the room with knives instead of shooting, both preserving ammunition and minimizing the attraction of the dead. As they entered, they saw five bodies on the floor, lifeless until the noise of movement woke them. The snarling began, and Nicole braced herself. They pushed forward as the dead attempted to stand, and the room was filled with cracking of knives through skulls and gurgling and blood splattering on the floor and walls. Within seconds, the dead were limp on the floor once more and silence filled the room. Waverly's arm and hand were coated in blood, which was dripping from the tip of her hunting knife onto the floor audibly as they stood in the quiet. In the storage room, where these people had died and stayed for who knows how long, with congealed blood on the floor where they sat before being disturbed by the Earps and Nicole, the shelves were filled with boxes of cans and bottled water, along with filled pallets in the middle of the floor of food, standing half as tall as Waverly. Wynonna smirked, kicking one of the dead and pausing to wipe the drops of blood spatter from her face.

"All of this isn't gonna fit in my truck," she said, "we're gonna have to come back for what we can't take now."

* * *

Standing outside the back door, which they had had to move two shelves full of boxes in order to access, Waverly and Nicole waited for Wynonna to come back with her truck. The sun was high in the sky, and the fresh air was a nice change from the horribly strong stink of death in the back room of that store. Waverly was leaned against the wall, looking out towards the horizon and the trees in the far distance. They had set all three of their bags on the ground, which they had filled the rest of the way, struggling to zip them shut. Nicole squinted over at Waverly, who hadn't shifted her gaze from the treeline. She had just opened her mouth when Waverly spoke.

"What was it like for you?" she asked. The question took Nicole by surprise, and confused her a bit. 

"What was what like?" she asked. 

"Before it all happened . . . Everything. Anything." Waverly looked back at Nicole, her eyes squinted. There wasn't much shade to hide from the bright sun bearing down on them. 

"It was . . . okay," Nicole answered, "good, even. Maybe." She thought for a second. Really, that wasn't entirely true. Life wasn't bad then, by any means. Especially with the reference point she had now, but thinking back, life before the end of the world was . . . good. Granted, there were points where Nicole remembered wanting everything to just . . . stop, but now, now she would give anything to have that life back. But she knew that was impossible, and she learned a long time ago not to dwell on it. She thought, though that Waverly deserved more of an answer than "good" or "okay". 

"I had a good job, and close friends. Family life was . . . tense, but it was existent, at least. I lived in the big city for a long time, before moving for my job. Losing everything, in the beginning . . . that was hard." Nicole looked at her hands. She remembered vividly the day that everything ended. The widespread panic and chaos, along with the unbearable sense of dread that came alongside the knowledge of the world coming to an end. She had rushed to find Shae, despite the endless fighting and bickering they had been doing. She had to make sure she was safe. Nedley had gone to his family, and told Nicole to come with them. She had gone and gotten Shae, and they went together directly to where Nedley was. They had stayed as a group for as long as they could. Shae had worked in the city, so going to get her was chaotic. Nicole would never forget the complete ruin that the city was in . . . after less than a day. She told Waverly about it, the people in the streets, rioting, causing even more chaos than was before. They had wanted to know what was happening, and had found out, soon enough. She had almost _almost_ stopped when one of the dead jumped on the back of an unsuspecting person in the street, but it was too late- they had already been bitten, and she had already seen what was happening. She had known already, albeit shortly, and seen what happened when someone was infected. 

"When did you find out- how?" Waverly asked. Nicole swallowed. Did she want to retell that? She hadn't since right after it all happened. She had returned to the station and told Nedley, and they had both immediately sprung to action, but really, did she want to tell it again? She should, probably. To get it out. That first time, was terrifying. 

"Uh, well there was a call we got in for a disturbance just outside of town," Nicole started, looking at Waverly. She remembered that afternoon. It had been boring before that point, but certainly picked up afterwards. She clenched her jaw, and continued. "I went to check it out- it was just at an old house, there wasn't normally much going on out there, but the neighbor swore that nobody had been there in a while, and that they had heard animals and it needed to be looked at. As soon as I got there, it felt off. It was oddly quiet. Eerie, almost. There wasn't any noise outside, like everything knew that something was really wrong inside. 

"I went in, and immediately I was hit by that smell- that putrid smell when one of the dead has been rotting in the heat for way too long, not far off from the smell in the storage room. I came really close to throwing up in the entrance, but then I heard it. That quiet, raspy snarling that they make. It freaked me out because I didn't know what it was, so I pulled out my weapon, and walked farther into the house." She paused, and looked off towards the trees where Waverly had been staring a moment before. The forest was still alive, and still spread for miles past the point they could see the farthest. She knew that, because of all of the time she had spent in them for so long. 

"About halfway down the hallway, there was a door open, and when I walked past it that was when I heard it louder. The door was sort of pushed to, so I pushed it open and there was a person sitting in a chair, facing away from the wall. The smell in this room was stronger than it was in the hallway- my eyes were watering and I could literally taste it, it was so potent. As I approached them, I tried to make them aware of my presence- you know, announce myself, but they didn't give any response no matter what I did. When I got right behind them, though, they made that snarling noise, like from the back of their throat. When I went around in front of them . . . god, it was awful. They had to have been sitting there for _ages_ to get that bad. I mean, skin just falling off, flesh hanging off of their head and arms, it had fallen off and pooled around them in the seat like thick nasty paste that kept them from moving. And then that's when they tried to stand up and move towards me, reaching out almost like they wanted help. I told them to stay put, not to move while I called in for an ambulance, but they stood up. 

"That flesh that was in the seat came up with them- caked on to their legs and when they stood up completely, the weight of it made it just fall to the floor. The sound it made was awful. It lunged at me, and nearly got hold, but I moved out of the way and- it didn't stop. It wouldn't stop moving towards me, even when i threatened to fire, and I knew something was seriously wrong. Eventually I went outside, and it followed, so I fired at its legs, and then the torso, but it just kept coming. It wouldn't stop, no matter what I did. So I got into the car and drove back to the station. That was the first one I encountered. After that, it spread like wildfire. There was no stopping the infections, they just continued to spread, taking half of the population within hours. That's when we left." She stopped her recounting there, looking at Waverly with furrowed eyebrows. The sunlight had dried the blood on Waverly's arm that she hadn't managed to get off, and her eyes seemed tired.

"The first one I saw was one that got into Shorty's," Waverly stated, looking back at Nicole. Her lips tightened as she spoke. "It had come in through a window that had gotten busted, and surprised us- I was in the bar with my uncle Curtis and Champ. It wasn't nearly as far gone as the one you were talking about; I guess it hadn't been as long since it had died. We had sort of known what was happening- I mean, all of the people coming back from the dead. It was all over the news, and actually we had just finished sort of talking about it. The fact that it was real hadn't quite set in yet . . . It came in the front of the bar and immediately attached Curtis, because he had jumped in front of me. 

"He struggled with it for almost a minute before I got the idea to break a bottle and stab it in the head, but by the time it fell to the floor, it was too late. Curtis was already bitten. Champ being Champ, he had sprinted to the other side of the room, so I went to Curtis and told Champ to get help," her voice sounded resentful, and Nicole understood why. From the few stories she had told, Waverly seemed to have been very close to Curtis. 

"He came back with Gus, but by that time Curtis had already moved to sit in a chair- the bleeding had slowed, but I think he knew, we all knew, kind of, what was about to happen. We didn't really, but . . . he fought the fever until the next night. It was awful, and sure, we were all with him, and he wasn't upset at all, but seeing him like that . . . I don't know," she took a breath, and Nicole saw a tear run down her cheek. 

"I knew almost right after everything started what the infection did to people, including speeding up the decomposition process. The people who die from infection, their bodies start to die way before their brains." 

It was quiet for a minute, and it seemed as though Waverly didn't want to speak any more. 

"Waverly, I'm so sorry," Nicole said, and she meant it. The pain in Waverly's eyes when she said, 

"It's alright- It's been a while," 

Told Nicole that she was nowhere near over that pain. 

Just then, though, Wynonna's truck came around the side of the store, and Waverly straightened, wiping the tears from her eyes with the hand that wasn't coated in dried blood. She picked up one of the bags from the ground as the drivers side door opened. 

"Let's load 'er up," said Wynonna, and Waverly grinned. Nicole wondered silently if Waverly had told her sister that she was still in so much pain. 

* * *

The Journey back had began somewhat quietly, the Earp sisters discussing when the rest of the supplies would be retrieved and who would get them. They had crammed as much food and water in the bed of the pickup as they could whilst still being sure that it wouldn't fall out, and placed the three duffel bags in the back seat of the cab with their other supplies. They talked about sending Henry out with one of them, since he would need help getting there. 

They had stashed the remaining supplies back in the building, and blocked the doors to the room as best they could. The amount of supplies they had found, they didn't want it being found by anyone else in the time it took them to come back for the rest. After they had sufficiently stuffed everything they could into the bed, they started off. The discussion had died down, and now they were sitting quietly as they moved down the road, the sun moving across the sky seemingly as quickly as they were traveling. 

It was some time in the late afternoon and Nicole was almost dozing off when Waverly moved slightly, locking her left leg behind Nicole's right. Suddenly, Nicole was much wider awake. When she glanced over at Waverly, her face was turned to look out the window, but Nicole was almost certain she saw a small smile play across Waverly's lips when she pressed their interlocked legs against the edge of the seat. 

Her thoughts were interrupted when Wynonna said, 

"Shit!" rather loudly and slammed on the brakes. The truck came to a screeching, sliding hand mere feet away from a person standing directly in the middle of the road, their arms up in the air. Their backs slammed backward into the sears, Wynonna asking "What the hell?" to no one in particular. The person in the road was definitely a woman, and she wore a black bandana over the lower half of her face. She dropped her arms, but didn't move from the spot where she stood in the road. Nicole was filled with dread as they watched a truck drive onto the road from the treeline, stopping behind the woman. three men got out, each holding firearms. They were all wearing completely black clothing, and the man in the front had a large patten burned onto his forearm- a brand. 

"Revenants," Wynonna said, moving to open her door. 

"Wynonna-" Waverly started, but Wynonna had already bailed out of the truck, pulled out Peacemaker and started her way towards the revenants. Waverly followed suit, and Nicole climbed out of the cab after them, her hand on her weapon, but she didn't pull it out.

"What do you want?" Wynonna demanded, coming to a stop in front of the woman who had stepped into the road in the first place. The woman didn't respond, but the man with the branded arm did. He stepped forward as the woman stepped back, and looked at Wynonna with malice. 

"What do you _think_ we want, bitch?" he asked, tilting his head. 

"Okay, listen, I don't have time for your little riddles and games, so why don't you explain before I shoot you all dead?" Wynonna was much more than angry and annoyed, and Waverly had a look on her face that could only be described as fury. 

"Here's what's going to happen here," the man spoke, "you three are going to step aside, we're going to load up into your truck and ours, leave, and you three can walk back to your little place. If you can, anyway. This far, in the cold, not to mention with no water? It'll be pretty damn hard, at least." Wynonna clenched her jaw. 

"No, _here's_ what's gonna happen," she said, waving her gun at them, "you're all gonna turn yourselves around, get back in your truck, and leave us the hell alone. Oh, and tell whoever's in charge that he can fuck off, or I'm gonna find your little base a lot sooner than planned and kill every single one of you. Saving the best for him, of course."

The man gripped his weapon tighter, his knuckles turning white. Nicole did the same, though her grip was not nearly as tight as his. She expected him to raise his gun, but he did not, instead continuing talking. The ones he had come with still had not spoken. The two other men stood silently back, their weapons pointed at the ground, not at the three women in front of them. The woman, the one who had stood in the road, had still not taken her bandana off of her face. She was behind the branded man, almost like she was hiding, but she seemed too confident to be hiding. She was refusing to look at Wynonna. 

"Listen," the man said, smirking, "your group has been safe for a long time. We've left it alone a while, because of last time. You know, when we took her," that was the last straw. Wynonna lifted Peacemaker and fired it into the air somewhere off behind the revenants, then pointed it directly at the man. The other two men lifted their weapons, and so did Waverly and Nicole. All movement ceased. 

"Don't you _dare_ talk about her, you son of a bitch," Wynonna's voice dropped, barely above a whisper. The man smirked, and she pressed the barrel of her gun to his forehead. 

"You don't want to hear about what happened to her?" he asked. 

"Shut up, before I blow a hole in your head," her voice shook.

The man stopped talking. The tension in the air was nearly heavy enough to cut through, and the silence only made it worse. Nicole's gaze flashed from person to person, and she couldn't stop looking at the woman with the bandana. She wasn't holding a weapon, and did not step forward or speak during the whole encounter. Granted, neither did Nicole herself, but the woman's behavior seemed to be odd. As Nicole watched, the woman's dark hair blew in the breeze, and she crossed her arms. She wasn't afraid, she wasn't concerned about her safety. Not in the slightest. This strange behavior made Nicole uneasy, and she looked back at the branded man, who still had his rifle trained on Wynonna. He was more tense than the woman, but not by very much. The other two men, they were afraid. Their muscles tense, sweat on their foreheads; one was clenching and unclenching his jaw. Nervous behaviors. But no matter how much time passed, the woman did not seem worried at all. 

"Now," Wynonna said, and she squared her shoulders. "What are you _really_ doing this for? You've never done shit like this before, so you've got my attention. What is it that you want this time?" 

"We want your supplies," the branded man said, and tilted his head. 

"Yeah, obviously, but why?" Wynonna asked, but the man did not answer, just stood in silence. 

"They want to starve us out," Waverly stated, and Nicole looked at her. Her glare was aimed at the branded man, but he was still staring at Wynonna. "They saw where we came from, and they cleaned out the last stop. They want us out of Purgatory, so they're making sure we can't get anything to live off of." It made sense. There had to be some reason behind their seemingly sudden decision to stop them and take the supplies. The grudge likely held against Wynonna may not have been enough of a reason logically, but these people did not seem to use logic very frequently. 

"Oh so you've got a smart one," the man said, looking suddenly at Waverly. "Not bad looking, either. We might have to keep her alive," he chuckled, and the other men did so too, however nervously Wynonna pulled back the hammer on Peacemaker. 

"You won't touch her," she said. What came next happened rather quickly. 

Wynonna squeezed the trigger of her revolver, and the branded man fell dead on the ground. His body fell heavily and stayed there, still. It took a second, but the other two men immediately began spray firing from the hip, bullets flying around them and hitting the truck. The woman stepped back and opened the door to their truck, using it as cover as she pulled a firearm from inside. Nicole grabbed Waverly's arm, shouting a quick "come on!" before firing a few random covering rounds towards the men and pulling her off the road and into the treeline. The trees provided just enough cover to not be seen, and they could likely make it out of this without getting hit. She thought Waverly would make her stop and wait, but a glance backward showed that Wynonna was following them closely, and the two remaining men came behind her, still firing in short bursts. 

Dodging back and forth through the growth, dried pine needles, leaves, and moss were crushed underfoot as they moved quickly between the trees. Nicole let go of Waverly's arm, but did not leave her side. The few bullets that came close sped past them and hit trees before they even started that direction, some scattering leaves on the ground behind their feet. There were several low-hanging and wildly growing branches, some of which Nicole could duck underneath but others she ran directly into, a few leaving gashes behind on her face and neck. After what seemed like hardly less than a minute of running, the bullets stopped flying and the three of them stopped, taking cover behind a few closely grown together trees, and listened silently for footfall. 

Nicole leaned her head back against a tree and strained her ears, glancing first at Waverly on her left and then Wynonna on her right. They both seemed to be unhurt, and Wynonna was shaking with anger. She kept peeking around the trees, watching for the men to come around. Nicole hissed at her the last time she did it, and motioned for her to stop. The movement she was making could give their location away. Wynonna furrowed her brow, but stopped moving back and forth to look behind them. 

Faintly, Nicole heard footsteps on the other side of their cover, trying a bit too hard to be quiet. The steps faltered a few times, making them slightly louder and giving them away. She looked at Wynonna, who nodded at her before turning around the tree and firing. There was a _thump_ and then silence once more. There was one revenant left, but he didn't seem to be anywhere near- at least not that they could hear. The silence that pressed down on them grew, and Nicole looked at Waverly. She held her shotgun to her front, the barrel aimed upward at the sky. She looked back at Nicole, and then moved her head, motioning that she was going to look around their cover. Nicole nodded. Cautiously, Waverly peeked around the trees, and then turned back and shook her head. No one was there. 

Just then, there was the sound of a truck starting up and Nicole nearly jumped. The sudden noise wasn't expected, and neither was Wynonna immediately sprinting off back towards the road. 

"Wynonna-!" Nicole started to say, and then Waverly took off after her. Before she had time to question _why_ exactly they would run directly back in the direction where there was a man with a semi automatic rifle waiting somewhere in the trees, and a woman with a pistol and a truck, she started after them. As she broke back through the treeline, she was met by gunfire and yelling. She moved quickly to the backside of Wynonna's truck, crouching down and looking around the side towards the front, where she watched as Wynonna shot and killed the other man, who was leaning out of the drivers side window of the Revenants' truck. He went limp, his upper body still hanging out the window, his legs keeping him from falling out entirely. Blood and brain matter splattered along the side of the truck, the back of his head blown open, red dripping onto the asphalt and his rifle, which now lay on the ground where he dropped it. Nicole stood up and walked over beside Waverly, who was standing to the right of Wynonna, her rifle aimed at the woman revenant, who was still in the truck. 

"Get out," Wynonna said, Peacemaker now trained on the woman, who set down her own weapon and exited the vehicle. Her arms were up once more, like they had been when they first saw her, almost running her over in the street. She still had not removed the bandana covering her face. As she stepped sideways away from the truck, Wynonna stepped towards her. The woman stopped with her arms still in the air, unmoving as Wynonna stepped closer again. 

"What's your name?" Wynonna asked, stopping directly in front of the woman. 

"What does it matter?" the woman replied. Her voice was tense now, almost fearful, but she was hiding it. 

"What's your name?" Wynonna asked her again. Why she was so adamant about knowing this woman's name, Nicole had no idea. 

"Rosita," the woman answered, her eyes flicking to look at Waverly, then Nicole, and then back to Wynonna. "I know who you are: Wynonna Earp, savior of Purgatory, and her sister. Waverly. But," she paused, nodding her head towards Nicole. "I _don't_ know who she is." 

"Doesn't matter," Wynonna assured her, and then she pushed the bandana down off of Rosita's face, revealing a scowl that held strong hatred. Wynonna's jaw clenched, and she pressed Peacemaker to Rosita's forehead, her own eyes suddenly filled with recognition and resentment. 

"You," she said, and she gripped Peacemaker tighter. 

"Me," the woman replied, tilting her head back. Nicole was almost certain she was going to squeeze the trigger; fire a bullet into her head and leave her there, but she instead released the hammer and lowered the gun. 

"What-?" Nicole started, but Wynonna spoke again. "Get in the truck," she told Rosita, and when she didn't move, Wynonna repeated, " _get in the truck_ " with much more hostility, pointing Peacemaker at her again. Rosita slowly made her way around Wynonna's pickup and got into the backseat where Wynonna gestured for her to sit. She closed the door and turned to Waverly and Nicole, who were both still standing in one place, rather confused. 

"Why are we taking her?" Nicole asked, returning her gun to its holster. Wynonna did the same, and answered, 

"She was there," she opened the drivers side door and stepped up into the cab. "she helped take Alice." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry writing this chapter took so long!! I didn't realize it had been so long since I wrote anything on this one . . . I had gotten distracted with school, and now here it is almost fall again :/. I'm going to try and write more this semester, but we'll see what happens. Kingdom come is the next one I'm updating, but I'm going to write another one shot soon, and I've been thinking about starting a college AU? Not sure if anyone would be interested in that, but if so, let me know! Thank you for sticking around and reading!! If you liked it, don't forget to comment your thoughts and leave kudos- that's always appreciated.


End file.
